There are around 10 independent PDF engines, and I built a new one from scratch.

Short summary

A student spent 14 months building a PDF engine from scratch in JavaScript after failing to find a web tool that truly edits existing PDFs. Existing libraries like pdf.js and jsPDF only create or view, not edit. The project required implementing codecs, compression, font support, and textbox recognition by manually highlighting textboxes across many PDFs to derive grouping rules. The result is KeyPDF.net, supporting direct text editing, redaction, annotation, form filling, and page organization.

• •Built a from-scratch JavaScript PDF engine enabling browser-based editing without a server
• •Existing JS PDF libraries only create or view — none handle editing existing text
• •KeyPDF.net supports text editing, redaction, annotation, form filling, and metadata editing

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